Clear Strategies and Strong Partnerships Set Barrick Up to Outperform, Says Bristow

Barrick Gold Corporation

In This Article:

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results
All amounts expressed in US dollars

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) – A strong finish to 2023 boosted Barrick’s full-year gold production to 4.05 million ounces and its copper output to 420 million pounds1 while its Tier One2 gold mines capitalized on a record gold price to deliver a robust financial performance.

Commenting on the annual results here today, president and chief executive Mark Bristow said despite picking up the pace in the latter half of the year, Barrick couldn’t quite make up for the challenges it faced in the first half, and gold production fell slightly short of the annual guidance as flagged with the Q3 results. Nevada Gold Mines had a stronger fourth quarter on the back of higher grades and operational improvements, while Pueblo Viejo advanced the commissioning of the expansion plant, addressing most of the equipment failures.

“In true Barrick fashion, we kept our focus, dealt with the challenges, progressed our long-term strategic plans and delivered on some of our key objectives. Most significantly, we have sustained our industry-leading organic growth outlook and are still projecting a 30% increase in gold equivalent3 production by the end of this decade,” he said.

The 2023 financial results again demonstrated the ability of Barrick’s peerless asset portfolio to create value, Bristow said. Operating cash flows increased year-on-year by 7% to $3.7 billion and free cash flow4 was up by 50% at $646 million. Net earnings increased by 200% to $0.72 per share, and adjusted net earnings5 increased by 12% to $0.84 per share, while the quarterly dividend was maintained at 10 cents per share. Barrick has one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry with almost no net debt.6

Barrick also maintained its record of substantial reserve growth, replacing 109% of its gold reserve depletion and 124% of copper depletion. Since 2019, the continuing success of its brownfields exploration programs has added almost 29 million ounces of attributable proven and probable gold reserves. On a 100% basis across all Barrick-managed properties, this represents an addition of 44 million reserve ounces.14

And importantly, just before the end of the year, Nevada’s Cortez received the U.S. government’s Record of Decision for the Goldrush project and immediately started work on its surface infrastructure accesses. Goldrush is forecast to produce approximately 130,000 ounces of gold this year, rising to 400,000 by 2028.16 The adjoining Barrick-owned Fourmile project is also believed to have Tier One potential with more work and drilling scheduled to advance this project to a PFS decision by the end of 2024.